Gameplay

The player controls the flying man as he collect doves, navigating an endless selection of pre-made tunnels while trying to pick up flying creatures. Every time the player dies, the doves they have collected are added to the total number of doves they have accumulated across the entire game.

A shop called the Aviary allows the player to purchase other flying creatures with.

In app purchases

The game contains an in app purchase that allows players to remove ads.

Development

Development of Endless Doves started after development of 8bit Doves was completed[1], though the idea of endless version of 8bit Doves was an idea that was considered since the development of the Nitrome Jamversion of 8bit Doves. [2] Because many of the game's elements were reused from 8bit Doves, certain areas of Endless Doves' development progressed quicker.[1]

The success of endless games funded through ads, such as Timberman, after the boom of Flappy Bird was seen by Nitrome as a new potential market that was yet to be explored. Endless Doves was created to try out this new funding model and also as an attempt to enter a good quality game into a market seen by Nitrome as being populated by several "sloppy" titles, though Nitrome was hesitant that Endless Doves would not be sloppy itself.[3]

Nitrome's decision to release Endless Doves for free was primarily to try out this new funding model, though it also was because they felt uncomfortable charging for an 8bit Doves related app when 8bit Doves had been released only a few months prior.[1] Endless Doves being endless and comprising of no independent levels was found to work better with this type of funding model instead of the level based progression Nitrome was used to putting in their games.[1]

The game was completed by October 24th 2014 and had been submitted to the iOS App Store with a release after it had been approved by Apple. [4] On October 28 Nitrome announced on the blog that the game had been submitted to Google Play.[5] By November 7 both app stores had accepted Endless Doves.[6] Nitrome announced on November 11 2014 that the game would be released on November 12 2014.[7]

By December 2nd 2014, the revenue Nitrome made on Endless Doves exceeded their expectation on what they thought it make.[8]

Versions

Release versions

This version was the version the game was released with. For iOS, it is called Version 1.0, while for Android it is called Version 1.2.

Update version

This version was released to fix bugs on both iOS and Android. For iOS, it is called Version 1.1 fixes bugs along with "speed improvements", likely referring to fixing lag related bugs.

For Android, the update is called Version 1.2.4, and is described as fixing a bug that caused game crashing on Android 5.0 "Lollipop". Along with this, it also fixes a bug that causes crashing on Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

Version 1.2 (Android)

This update was released on Android on December 3 2014 and fixes bugs.

Christmas update

Released on December 4 2014 for Android and pending release on iOS, this update adds two new Christmas themed entities to the Aviary.

Availability on other platforms

Although Endless Doves was released for iOS and Android (Google Play), Nitrome has not ruled out an Amazon App Store version.[9]

Glitches

The launching device seen in the Nitrome Jam version of 8bit Doves is sometimes visible right before the game spawns the launching device, though this can only be seen if the player is effected by lag when the game is loading the launching device.

Beta elements

Nitrome teased a picture of the Aviary in a blog post, showing a picture of the page for the chicken. This page shows the chicken as requiring 120 doves to unlock, while in the final versions it was changed to 20.

Reception

Sales

On November 13 2014 Endless Doves was at spot 127 in the Free iOS games charts.[10]

By November 21, 2014 Endless Doves had been played 6 million times[11] on both iOS and Android.[12] Of those players, 75% (4.5 million) got a score between 0 and 5 doves.[13] The amount of revenue Endless Doves brought in exceeded Nitrome's expectations on what they would make.[8]

The revenue Nitrome made on Endless Doves by December 2nd 2014 exceeded their expectation on what they thought it make.[8]

The game, along with 8bit Doves, was downloaded a lot in in Japan[14].

Trivia

The level segment that requires the player to fly through several black blocks suspended in mid air is a reference to Tetris.

Although the game takes place in an area with art from the Deep Sleep level pack, the music used is from Sweet Dreams.

Nitrome once considered including unlockable content for the flying man, but withheld it because the character had too many animations to do a practical swap as opposed to the doves. Interchangeable features for the flying man may be reevaluated based on the game's popularity and demand.[15]

Originally the browser version could be played in full screen by right clicking on the game and selecting "Go Fullscreen", though this was changed the following day due to its impact on the display of ads.[16]

References

↑ 1.01.11.21.31.4Game Developer's Blog - Nitrome:
[1]: We have no set timeframe but I expect it to be a lot less than 3 months as we have been working on it since we finished with 8 bit Doves and that game does speed some parts up., 28 Sep 2014, retrieved 2 Oct 2014.

↑Game Developer's Blog - Nitrome:
Endless Doves??? → Comment by Nitrome: That's how we feel. We see the sort of games that have appeared since Flappy Bird happened like Timberman and it seems to us that there is a new potential market there that is still relatively untapped. We also feel a lot of the games appearing there are a bit sloppy looking so maybe we could do well there. Maybe not but we think it is worth trying and currently were quite keen on trying an endless game., 28 Sep 2014, retrieved 3 Oct 2014.

↑Game Developer's Blog - Nitrome:
Halloween Avatars! → comment by Jon Annal: Its been submitted to the [iOS App] store. But needs to be approved. So as soon as apple gets around to approving it., 24 Oct 2014, retrieved 25 Oct 2014.

↑Pocket Gamer:
Comments for [Update Endless Doves is Nitrome's follow-up to 8bit Doves, out next week]: Actually it's coming this week [November 10-14] ...I sent the message about it on Friday [November 7] but I guess they didn't get it until this morning :), 10 Nov 14, retrieved 11 Nov 14.

↑Endless Doves on mobile tomorrow!:
comment (Nitrome): ...[changing the main character] was actually something we thought about but the man has too much animation to realistically do many swaps for him...maybe if it's popular enough to update it we may consider it again, retrieved 11 November 2014.

↑Nitrome Game Comments:
Endless Doves → comment by Nitrome: Adverts are what pay for the games, our wages and families. So sorry but its not us being mean, it's just the way it is., 19 Nov 2014, retrieved 19 Nov 2014.

↑Game Developer's Blog - Nitrome:
Endless Doves???: @nitrome2014swell it is free for a few reasons. First we felt uncomfortable asking for people to pay for another 8 bit Doves related app so soon. Second we genuinly [sic]are interested in trying Ads as a primary funding model as there looks to be a new potential market there which is currently not yet so saturated. Thirdly being an endless game we feel it better suits the model that [than] our level based games., 27 Sep 2014, retrieved 3 Oct 2014.